Hinduism is a monotheistic pantheistic religion. This means that Hindus believe in one god, Brahman and multiple deities that originated from Brahman. Pantheism deals with the idea that everything in the world is part of God or a manifestation of him. The Hindu religion is one of the oldest religions in the world. It is over 3,500 years old (Ellinger, 1995) and is the third largest world religion after Christianity and Islam. There are currently 1 billion Hindus in the world and 945,000,000 of them reside in India. The word Hindu comes from the word Sindu which is the Persian name for the river Indus. As such, the word Hindu was previously merely a name used to represent an Indian. Hinduism is a blend of two religious developments which over …show more content…
In the last few hundred years Hinduism has gained more popularity in western countries. “Its different worldview and its tolerance for diversity in belief made it an attractive alternative to traditional Western religion.”(ReligionFacts, 2004) The Hindu religion differs from other world religions as it does not have a founder. It also does not have a sacred test equivalent to the bible or the Qur’an. There is no set of commonly agrees teachings or no head leader of the religion. I find the Hindu religion fascinating and intriguing as there is such a variety of deities to be prayed to for different reasons. Unlike other religions Hinduism gives its followers freedom to question the abstract and theoretical aspects of the religion. The religious practices and the social life of Hinduism are so diverse and this is what makes it such a fascinating religion. It is not being bound together by a founder or sacred text, it is the enduring development of the religion from its beginning to today that has helped it to survive. This is why Hindus call their religion the eternal faith which is also known as, sanatana dharma. The sanatana dharma is the basis of the hindu belief. The word Sanatana translates as “eternal” and the word dharma means right conduct or religious duties. Each person has dharma and it can vary amongst different castes. (Pancholi,